This archive report was first published on 14 July 2020.
On July 14, 2020, the trial of Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, a 42-year-old Malian jihadist, began at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Al Hassan has been charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, rape, and sexual slavery in connection with the destruction of Timbuktu's shrines and the terror he unleashed on local residents.
The charges cover a period when Islamic fundamentalists exploited an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012 to take over cities in Mali's volatile north.
Prosecutors at the tribunal in The Hague will give their opening statement against Al Hassan, who they described in pre-trial hearings as having 'terrorised' local residents.
The defence and the legal representatives of alleged victims will deliver their statements at a later date when evidence is presented to the court.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, some participants in the trial will take part remotely, and it was unclear whether Al Hassan would personally be in court.
Timbuktu, dubbed the 'Pearl of the Desert', has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988. The city's shrines were built between the fifth and 12th centuries by Tuareg tribes.
Prosecutors said there were 'substantial grounds' to convict Al Hassan for 'crimes against humanity... torture, rape, sexual slavery (and) other inhumane acts including, inter alia, forced marriages, persecution and war crimes.'
ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said last year that Al Hassan played an 'essential and undeniable role' in the system of persecution established by the armed groups in Timbuktu.
Another Islamist extremist, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, was found guilty of directing attacks on the UNESCO World Heritage site in a landmark ruling in 2016.
